The 2008 Festival of Lights drew big crowds over its first weekend.

“I don’t know exactly how many visitors we had, but we gave out 4,000 handouts, and we heard a lot of positive comments,” said FOL Director Kristi Davis.

“It was solid cars on Thursday and Friday with people everywhere and people were being very generous with their donations,” Davis sid. “We’re hoping for a fantastic year, so we were very pleased.”

With $80,000 in bills now due, Davis said the festival is “an expensive venture,” costing about $125,000 annually.

Davis said busses from as far away as Kansas and Branson, Mo., came to the event.

“They said our show beat their show in Branson all to pieces, and that our show is 10 times the show theirs was,” said Davis.

In addition, Davis said several other bus tours are scheduled, including busses for state employees, the Welcome Center, Ft. Sill and Tinker Field.

“We’re getting pretty good attention from the state and the TV stations and newspapers have been really good to us,” said Davis.

As for the rest of the festival, Davis said “we’re expecting gangbuster crowds.”

There are still openings for volunteers at the gate and in the gift shop.

The festival runs through Dec. 31. Gates open at 6 p.m. each night.